Mr. Clean Magic Erasers

Take a stroll around the house with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I PROMISE you it will be the most satisfying part of your weekend.

I had scuffs, dirt, and stains I thought I would be living with forever. And poof, they're gone!

This is how they work.

And here are a bazillion uses.

Vinegar + Anne = New BFF

In my quest for environmentally friendly cleaning products I have often come across vinegar as a suggested cleanser - and have always pooh-poohed it due to its very unpleasant smell.

But I finally gave in and tried it today. Um, wow! My kitchen sink has never been so happy and shiny! The dirt willingly jumps right off and all of my hard water spots are gone (poof, magic).

I have no doubt that I can now conquer the world armed with a bottle of vinegar and an old toothbrush.

1001 Uses for Vinegar

I ♥... - The February 25th, 2009 Edition

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

Jamaican and Zambian coffee

Happy hour sushi at Nami

Afternoon sun through my window at work

My new bromeliad, about to bloom


(it's from the pineapple family!)

Christmas is a Feeling in Your Heart

I generally complain about how long the Christmas season is - I think most of us do. But doesn't it always seem like Christmas is here too soon? I never feel I have fully celebrated. I wish I had a full week for decking the halls, figgy pudding, and one-horse-open-sleigh rides.

I have, however, come up with some small, everyday (okay, somewhat kitschy) ways to celebrate that have become cherished traditions.


Gaudy Christmas Pins
Wear one on your winter coat. Pins with jingle bells or flashing lights get extra points.


Green and Red InkUsing green and red pens will feel particularly festive in cubicalville.


Nog in Coffee
Use egg nog, soy nog, whatever nog best suits you.


Pandora
Holiday Music on Pandora


Christmas Socks
Again, jingle bells are a nice touch here (your coworkers will love them, I promise).


Merry Christmas!

"Is how we have been really how we want to be?"

Ailing economy a chance to teach kids something they'll have forever

I will definitely want to be reminded of this article when I am doing Christmas shopping for my own future children.

Things I Love About Life - Part I

Yes, they're called Crispy Hexagons. I would love to meet the marketing people who came up with the name.

Our New First Lady

I'm not sure I have ever in my life been more excited for the next four years. Is it okay that I adore everything about the Obamas? Or am I just setting myself up to be disappointed?

I ♥ this article - hopefully every member of the news media will read it. Well done, Vanity Fair.

Welcome to the White House, Mrs. Obama!

Given all the other things Mrs. Obama stands for, do we really need to critique every dress, hairstyle, and daily make up job as if she were some teenage contestant on America’s Next Top Model? She is smart, hard-working, dignified, well-intentioned—and human.
. . .
Let’s let our new First Lady be a fully dimensional grown-up woman, with strengths and weaknesses and idiosyncrasies and unconventional quirks and adult sexuality and cranky moods and even—oh, the horror!—opinions that sometimes diverge from those of her husband. We accept all those things in the women we know in everyday life, but it’s still a radical idea to stop imposing absurdly hypocritical, quasi-Victorian standards on our First Lady.

Eezing My Misery

I get sick a lot. Why? We're not quite sure. But if you have a virus, I promise I will get it - despite having hand sanitizer on my desk at work, in my car, and in my purse - despite taking vitamin C tablets every day.

Echinacea seems to less my symptoms and I have sworn by it for years. But I recently found a new homeopathic treatment that has helped greatly with my three most recent colds. Usually I'm sick for a week, at least. Now I'm sick for three days - and not nearly as miserable.

Cold-Eeze

The medical community has done trial after trial and they're still not convinced. But here's the real reason why I think it works:

"The significant reduction in the duration of common colds with zinc gluconate lozenges may be due to the subjects' belief that anything tasting as bad as zinc and with as much aftertaste as zinc must be good medicine" (Farr and Gwaltney, 1987).

Yes, this stuff is good medicine.

In Love with Love

The day Drive105 went away and Love105 took its place was a rough one here in the Twin Cities. I refused to listen to Love, and thought it was the worst premise for a radio station ever, until just a few days ago when I landed there accidentally.


Turns out it's the best mix of summertime music EVER. I think my mom once said something about judging a book... blah, blah, blah. Lesson learned.

This is the best of what I've heard so far:

Frank Sinatra - Beyond the Sea
Bee Gees - More Than a Woman
Neil Diamond - Cherry Cherry
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Frankie Valli - Grease is the Word
Bob Dylan - Lay, Lady, Lay

ps- Disco is back.

Mint Chocolate Chip

Best part of being a grown up (hands down):
ice cream for dinner.

I could probably do without the rest of it (business casual, 401k, moral responsibility) but mint chocolate chip anytime I want it makes adulthood a-ok in my book.

Sneezing Panda

This is definitely the funniest part of my week, so far.

I ♥ Peeps

I really do adore Peeps. They're so squishy-yummy - and cute to boot! They bring me an inconceivable amount of delight - so much that I'm giving them their very own tag. Check out the Original Pioneer Press Peeps Diorama Contest. I highly recommend viewing the slideshow in fullscreen mode to fully appreciate the cuteness that is the Peep.

PostSecret Valentine Video

Postsecret: A Valentine Video

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Oh, Valentine's Day...

Yes, Valentine's Day.

The first Valentine's Day Blake and I celebrated together was themed 'White Trash' (his idea, not mine). We dressed like white trash (I had quite a hard time with this), drank Old Milwaukee, then went to White Castle AND Taco Bell. I felt sick, can't imagine why.

Our second Valentine's Day we had a huge fight, were on the verge of breaking up, and I showed up at his door with a case of Old Milwaukee - for old time's sake.

Last Valentine's Day there was an entire ocean between us.

So we have quite the track record. As much as I've always been against heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and long-stemmed roses, I sometimes wonder if my life wouldn't be a little easier with heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and long-stemmed roses. I have no doubt that Hallmark is at fault for making me believe this.

I've recently become a fan of PostSecret (a community art project; people create and anonymously send postcards with their secrets) and they have a Valentine's Day themed post today - yes, love is dysfunctional, by nature. But that's okay.

Here are my favorites:

Brr.

So it's cold. Cold-cold. And let's just say I'm not dealing well. (Fortunately, I splurged and bought this a few weeks ago. Totally worth the $20.) I experienced frozen nose hair a few nights ago and it was unpleasant, as usual, so I was complaining to Blake and he had NO IDEA what I was talking about. How is that possible after living here for so many years? Sometimes I wonder about that boy.

I started to doubt myself and did a google search for "frozen + nose + hair" so I could email him some scientific evidence of this phenomenon. But nothing - only personal accounts and some links to nose hair trimmers. I don't know what I expected - shouldn't Wikipedia have a page on frozen nose hair or something? I feel like the internet community is letting me down on this one.

So whoever has some free time, please Wiki it up. It needs to be done. The people of Minnesota, who suffer through 4 long months of cold every year, deserve a page dedicated to frozen nose hair.

Independent Shops and Etsy

April and Joel started a campaign to support independent and local shops - so I'm going to try that for a while. They have been exclusively shopping local since September 1st and plan to stick to it for 6 months (though they did make an exception last weekend for Chipotle and Dunkin' Donuts since we were in Chicago).

The economist in me was hesitant at first - doesn't specialization increase efficiency? - but I do realize, of course, that efficiency isn't everything. So with the exception of grocery shopping (which requires a shift in lifestyle much larger than I can commit to right now), I will not set foot in any corporate establishments - including Starbucks, Target and Blockbuster - from now until March.

Fortunately, I recently discovered the brilliance that is Etsy - 'Your place to buy & sell all things handmade.'(TM) Not only is it a wonderful concept but the website is well-built, allowing you to do things like shop by color and view items that were recently purchased. There is now an Etsy Favorites section in my sidebar.

Doesn't it just make you feel good to see all of these people who are creating instead of just consuming? The world needs more of that.

Zombie Dance

Back to So You Think You Can Dance, this is upon recommendation from the Abby-Girl - (it's also one of my favorite dances ever). The choreographer, Wade Robson, just won an Emmy for it. And Mia Michaels also won an Emmy this year - yay!

My Bedroom Door

I have recently been wanting to post several creations that are not my own - poems, quotes, art, tongue twisters and the like that I have been collecting over the years - so I've created a separate blog. Hopefully someone besides me can enjoy it.

My Bedroom Door

The name was inspired by the location of the original collection, which was my bedroom door. (I know, I'm creative like that.)

"Life is burritoful."

If I was feeling really creative, I might write a short ode to Chipotle, the maker of all burrito-y goodness.

As it is, I'll just post this link. You can calculate the nutrition information for your specific variety of burrito (or tacos, or whatever you might consume).

My Chipotle Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 Burrito

Calories 1174 Calories from Fat 420

Total Fat 47g
Saturated Fat 18g
Cholesterol 166mg
Sodium 2989mg
Total Carbohydrate 125g
Dietary Fiber 10.5g
Sugars 6g
Protein 61g
Vitamin A 109%
Vitamin C 39%
Calcium 52%
Iron 24%

Chipotle Nutrition
Results provided by: Chipotle Fan.com

And now we have another testament to Chipotle's brilliance - one burrito, one meal and (almost) one entire day's worth of calories. Yummm.

Best. Choreography. On TV.

So You Think You Can Dance is one of the two TV shows that I watch (the other is The Office).

Mia Michaels (choreographer of the first two pieces) is a goddess. Really. The second of her's here is the story of reuniting with her dad in heaven - just amazing.

The third piece is the best disco I've ever seen - so much fun (not sure who the choreographer is).